Apparatus for casting metal ingots



Patented June 9, 1885.

(No ModeL) F. BILLINGS. APPARATUS POB, CASTING METAL INGOTS. No. 319,78o.

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N4 PETERS, Phnkn-Llhographer. Washingtnn, ILCA I l l es @Z367 @ITE il@ STATES l ArtNr trici".

-' APPARATUS .FOR CASTING METAL INGOTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 319,780, dated June 9, 1885.

' Application nica February 11, 1885. (No modem To @ZZ whom t may concern,.-

Be it known that I, FRANK BILLINGs, a citizen of the United States, residing in Cleveland, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Casting Metal Ingots, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings,form ing a part of the same.

The obj ect of this invention isto transfer the fluid metal from the kettle or ladle to the bottom of the mold without any breaking up of the Huid-metal current and without any admixture of air; and my improvement consists, essentially, in the combination, with a fluid-metal kettle or ladle having an aperture in the bottom, of an ingot-mold tted to such aperture, and a movable bottom fitted to slide within the mold from its top downward, as and for the purpose set forth.

With the means heretoforeemployed the metal has been dropped from a spout into the open mouth of the mold, the current of metal falling in contact with the atmosphere and operating, as it fell into the mold or into its contents, to draw a large amount of air down into the mold and to mingle the same mest intimately with the fluid metal. A similar effect is readily observed when pouring water from a pitcher into a glass, and is strikingly noticeable when a current of water is precipitated into a taller vessel nearly filled with water, the air-bubbles being then seen to descend nearly to the bottom of the vessel, and to rise therefrom as rapidly as the iiuid will afterward permit. Such air-bubbles not only render the steel ingot spongy, but their presence excites chemical action with the carbon present, and generates considerable volumes of hydrogen and carbonio-oxide gases, which are not usually able to escape from the fluid metal before the latter becomes chilled.

Various means of compressing the duid metal and of diminishing the fall of the current in filling deep molds and of exhausting the air from the mold before pouring have been heretofore devised, to avoid the formation of spongy ingots, as in United States Patents Nos.124,700, 298,661, and 298,662, and Reissue No. 10,082; but none of these or other inventions entirely prevent the access of air to the fluid current, or operate to prevent the division vof the same and the entangling of the air with some of its particles.

My present invention includes some of the apparatus heretofore patented to G. W. Billings in the patents just cited, especially the descending bottom tted within a vertical ingot-mold, as shown in United States Patent No. 298,662; but it differs from the 6o same in uniting the bottom of the kettle with the mold, and in having a tight connection between the bottom of the kettle and the interior of the mold, so that the flow of the metal from the kettle to the mold is not only unbroken, but completely protected from the atmosphere.

My invention will be understood by reference to the annexed drawings, in which Figure lis a vertical elevation of a mold pro- 7o vided with a movable bottom and hydraulicv cylinder, and attached to a kettle havingfa heating-flue around it, the parts being shown in section where hatched. Fig. 2 is a similar vertical section of an apparatus for pouring77 75 plane on which the section in Fig. 2 is taken. The molds represented herein are assumed to be of metal or other suitable material, and

Fig. 3 is a plan of theket- 8o Y to be made in sections when necessary for the 8 5 convenient removal of the ingot, and they may be fastened to the bottom of the ladle or kettle in any convenient manner, and detached therefrom when filled and when the ingot is' sufficiently cooled. v

The kettle herein may in some instances be a movable ladle suspended from a crane and raised vertically with the mold during the iilling of the mold by the crane-gearing; or'it may be part `of a fixed mechanism, and movable vertically with a series of-molds by steam or water power,'as shown in Fig. 2; or it may be a fixture, and the mold be adjusted and secured beneath it with a movable bottom therein, as in Fig. l, and the-duid metal may in roo these two latter cases be supplied to the kettle from the furnace in any convenient manner; The kettle or ladle is in the drawings so constructed that the precise charge of metal for the molds should be supplied thereto, and no means of disposing of a surplus is therefore shown herein; but it is obvious thatsuch surplus could be tapped from the side of the kettle, if desired, and that the mouth of the mold can be stopped up when full, ifdesired.

In Fig. 1, A is themold; A', straps to hold its sections together, as is usual ,'B, the kettle; B, the aperture in its bottom leading to the C a refractory lining within the kettle.

F is a brick jacket around the kettle, fo'rm- ,y

ing a flue connected with afurnace or supplied lion therein. The mold is sustained beneath the kettle by blocks D', resting on a bed, D2;

and D3 are columns extending from the bed to support the kettle, straps `being shownaround kettle within the collar B2, and held thereto .by flanges Z and bolt Z.

E is the water-cylinder, fixed upon a Iplat-.

form, E, beneath the mold and concentric bed to the platform to connect the two.

as supporting a refractorynor movable bottom plate, el?, just below the bottomof the kettle,

the plate being secured to .the head by bolts;

D areknocked out, after which the mold can and keysf.

,A packing or stuiing box, g, is provided at the top of the cylinder, and inlet-pipes b b and outlet-pipes c c are provided, respectively,at the top and bottom of the cylinder,to regulate I the flow f the water therein.

His an accumulator supplied with hydraulic pressureby a pump-pipe, H', andhis a pipe leading from the same to three-waycockfi,

,whichvis connected with both the inlet-pipes" b b and provided with a handle, b2, by `which V the water can be turned into either pipe and the piston e forced up or down at{pleasure.

TheV outlet-pipes are alsoprovided with dis. charge-cocks c2 c3, the former being opened; l when the piston is forced upward to adjust the vhead e, as shown in the drawings, andthe latter being opened to regulate the spveedat.y

which the head descends under the load'of iiuid metal, the water employed to force the.`

bottom e3 up being employed to sustainitin the position shown during the fillingof `the kettle B.

. The apparatus is operatedby adjusting-the",` head e2 with the movable bottom e3 close to. the bottom' of the kettle, and packing the joint.

between the edge of the plate c3 and theiaperture B with ganister or other refractory ma-` terial, as at e. The kettle is then vfilled to a `marked point with just the quantity of metal' required to charge the mold, and the metal is then allowed to stand until as cool as it can.

be made to flow into the mold, when the dismold; B2, a collar on the bottom around such aperture to guide the mold into its place, and

, and its surface of much greater extent; and

with gas and air so as to maintain a combus the mold such as 4are required when the .mold 1 is made in sections, and the headof the mold being shown in contact with the bottom of the j sired number of ,ingots at once.

charge-cock c3 at the bottom of the cylinder is opened suliiciently to permit the descent of the head e'l at the highest speed'consistent with aquiet ow of the metal into the mold, so as to avoid any collision of the particles and the drawing of any air into the mold by the formation of vortices. By thus settling the metal in the kettle before drawing it into the mold ample opportunity is afforded for the disengagement of any contained gases, as the kettle is much shallower than the mold the method of transferring it to the mold when thus vfreed from gases is expressly adapted to avoid the intermingling of any air with the ffiuid metal in the transit, as the metal is only admitted to the mold in the exact ratioin;

which the capacity of the mold is increased, and the movement of the false bottom or plate eiliseasily regulated to exactly the desired' speed.

If desired, the cock c3 may be automatically moved asthe bottomor head e2 descends, and

the discharge-outlet gradually closed as the weight or head of fluid metal in the mold increases, and the pipes c and c may be connected together, if desired,lso that the water may ow from below the piston e to its upper side as the piston moves downward, the regulatingcock being then placed in such` connecting-pipe. l

AVhen the mold isfilled andthemetal therein cooled, the weight of the mold and ingot is sustained by a crane or hoist, while the blocks be lowered clear ofthe collar IB'l and "removed to have the ingot extracted. 4

Bymaintaining combustion in the hollow jacket F themetal can be keptvhot for a longer periodinthe kettle beforejdrawing it into the mold, and themost perfect ,freedom from air andgasesinrthe product be thereby secured.

In Figs. 2 and Sis shown an apparatus operating in just the reverse manner` to produce the same effect, and Vadapted to fill any de- In this device the kettle B B is shown formed with a flat bottomand having ve molds attached to it by thesame means as in Fig. 1, the fastening-bolt being omitted inthe latter gures on A, account of the reduction in the scale of those lfigures. `The kettle is sustained upon hydraulic plungers J,f1ttedto cylinders J upon Ia bed, K, and the false bottoms e2 e3 are affixed to stationary rods I, which aresecured to the bed beneath the fcenters, ofthe openings-B B ,in the bottom of the kettle over each mold.

In operationthefalse bottomsfill or close all the apertures, as shownin Fig. 2,lduring the lling of the kettle `with metal, as at L,

.and the hydraulic plungers J are then forced plainly, as well as the difference in thearea.

of the united molds and the kettle itself, by which it will be seen that an upward movement of the kettle so far as only one-tenth the length of the ingot will suffice to ll all the molds.

While the metal is cooling in the molds the latter are sustained in their elevated position with the kettle, and the molds can then be t-aken apart and detached from the kettle, leaving the ingots standing upon the heads of the rods I.

By making the apertures in the bottom of the kettle of suitable size, the latter can then be lowered with the ingots projecting upward through them, and the ingots then be removed singly by suitable hoisting apparatus.

It is obvious that the means required for handling the molds, the ingots, and the kettles must vary with the size of ingots to be made; but as such part of the apparatus is already well known, and is not an essential part of my invention, the same is not shown at all-hegein. vNeither is my invention limited to the mechanical arrangement shown herein for supporting and actuating thefalse bottom, as it is immaterial what means are used, provided the movements-are effected in the manner described.

It is obvious that a compression-plate7 could be inserted beneath the bottom of the kettle and the surface of the metal in the mold, as in the United States Patent No. 298,662, referred to above, and that means for exerting compression could then be applied to the contents of the mold by the movable bottom, as in said patent.

I am fully aware of the process patent application, No. 155,646, filed herewith, for similarsubj ect-matter, and hereby disclaim all that 4o may be allowed in the said application.

What I claim herein is- 1. The combination, with a fluid-metal kettle having an aperture in the bottom, of an ingot-mold fitted to such aperture, and a movable bottom fitted to slide within the mold, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with a fluid-metal kettle having an aperture in the bottom, of an ingot-mold itted to such aperture, and a movable bottom fitted to slide within the mold and to close the aperture from the kettle, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination, with a fluid-metal kettle havingan aperture in the bottom, of an ingot-mold fitted to such aperture, a movable bottom fitted to slide within the mold, and means, substantially as described,- for moving said bottom and drawing the metal from the kettle into the mold, as and for the purpose set forth.

4. lhe combination, with a fluid-metal kettle having an aperture in the bottom, of a removable mold secured thereto at the aperture, a movable bottom fitted to the mold, a cylinder having a piston attached to the movable bottom by a piston-rod, means for forcing the piston and bottom upward by hydraulic pressure, and an adjustable escapecook at the bottom of the cylinder, to regulate the velocity of the pistons descent, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK BiLLINGs.

Witnesses:

HENRY J THEBERATH, Trios. S. CRANE. 

